Tag: Barcelona

Society seems to have created an odd hierarchy of children's activities which, at first glance, is there to help us parent better and ensure our children go on to great things. Sitting at the top are the worthwhile activities (reading, playing an instrument, doing a craft etc) and, lurking at the bottom, are the time-wasters … Continue reading When everything means something

Our sons, who are now 12 and 11, both learned to read about three years ago, when they were nine and eight respectively. When they were younger, I'd tried for a while to help them with their reading, assuming that with some gentle encouragement they would learn, but they'd pushed me away every time. I … Continue reading Learning to read

One of the most common questions I get about unschooling is how will the children learn maths. It's funny how nervous maths makes us. There seems to be a collective anxiety around the subject. Certainly it was the one thing guaranteed to make me wobble when we took the children out of school. My insecurities … Continue reading Numbers, numbers, numbers

I read something recently about how easily and unwittingly we adults turn a learning experience into a teaching experience. A particular scenario from our home came to my mind and the penny finally dropped. Here's what happens. One of the children comes into the room with a question, usually directed at whichever of us they … Continue reading When learning becomes teaching

Our journey to unschooling has taken a few years, and finally arrived at its inevitable destination some months ago. I look back now at all the time spent trying to fit the children and ourselves into a structure that never felt right to me, and into which none of us really seemed able to fit, … Continue reading How we became unschoolers

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About us

We’re a family of five living in the hills near Barcelona. I’m from the UK, my partner is from Argentina, and our three children, D (12), E (11) and C (6) were born here in Spain.

Last year we finally accepted that we are happier without school, just living and learning together. This blog is about our experiences in unschooling. We hope it’s helpful to anyone on in this path or just interested in learning more about it.